Pat Bean's blog

            “Fate is not an eagle. It creeps like a rat.” – Elizabeth Bowen

I’m a believer  

We never know what we’re going to encounter on the path of life. And I wouldn’t want it any other way. — Photo by Pat Bean

          “We make our own fortunes then call them fate,” said Benjamin Disraeli. His words were the gist of almost all the quotes I could find on “fate.”

I agree, and yet I also disagree. I’m not a religious person, but there have been many times in my life when it seemed as if fate took a hand.

Most recently, it was after I broke my ankle and met Betty Ann, who was a dog walker, well of sorts. It was something she fell into while searching for a job. She was my next door neighbor, and thus agreed, for a pittance, to walk Maggie until I could take over the task again.

Recently I discovered, she had excellent editing skills. And again, for a pittance, she has agreed to edit and
proofread “Travels with Maggie,” the book which I desperately need to finish and publish so I can move on.

Every writer needs an editor, if for nothing more than to see what the writer really wrote, and not what she thought she wrote. She hadn’t even got past my dedication of the book, which read: This book is dedicated to my canine traveling companion, Maggie, and to John Steinbeck. His book, “Travels with Charley, was one of the inspirations for my vagabond lifestyle and also for this book’s title. I would also like to think the hundreds of other great travel writers who taunted me to discover my own adventures.

Did you catch the mistake? I didn’t. Think should have been thank.

I truly believe it was fate that brought Betty Ann and me together. What do you think? Or is that thank?

The Wondering Wanderer’s blog pick of the day.

Bean’s Pat: The Mockingbird and the Cat http://tinyurl.com/l4ebgew I’m both an avid bird watcher and a cat lover, so I’m a fence sitter on the issue of cats being allowed outside. I put a bell on my cat to give the birds warning, just fyi. But I sure do love this mockingbird’s attitude.